Iron-polysaccharide complexes are known in the art and are often of interest due to their value for the treatment of iron deficient anemia. Various iron-polysaccharide complexes are currently used clinically to improve iron levels in patients with low iron levels and also may be used to prevent iron deficient anemia. Effective polysaccharide iron complex (PIC) products are known in the art. These include PIC prepared from corn syrup and sorbitol. Such PIC products are known to be suitable for use in preparing effective iron supplements, but they may suffer from one or more disadvantages. For example, the reaction between corn syrup and sorbitol is believed to occur at iron sites and may result in formation of uncontrolled final structures. The final PIC product may also include certain impurities remaining from the process (e.g., unreacted maltose).
Although effective PIC products are known in the art, there exists a need in the art for alternative iron-polysaccharide complexes that may overcome one or more disadvantages of conventional PIC products and/or provide certain advantages based on the nature of the particular complex.